The term “communications device” as used herein shall include wireless and land-line-based telephones as well as computers, wireless personal digital assistants (PDA's) and other devices used in connecting to communications networks. A party to a conversation over a communications network participates in that conversation using any one of a number of communications devices available today. For example, a party wishing to place a telephone call from the home frequently uses a land-line telephone, in order to control costs or to assure the audio quality of the conversation. A caller from a vehicle or from a location remote from the home frequently uses a wireless cellular telephone. While a caller initiating a call has a choice as to the type of communications device used, the situation of the caller often changes during the conversation and the caller may wish to continue the conversation on a different type of communications device. As to the called party, that party must pick up the call using the communications device on which it was received, and is given no choice.
The situation therefore frequently arises in which a participant in a communication wishes to continue that communication but prefers not to continue it using the communications device on which the communication is currently being conducted. For example, a party may have been waiting for an important call on a land-line phone and that call comes in just before the party must leave for a doctor's office. The party desires to continue the call on a wireless phone while in transit to the doctor's appointment. In another example, a party conducting a conversation on a cell phone arrives home, and wishes to continue the call from the land-line phone in the home. The party may wish to do so in order to switch to land-line rates, or because the party's cellular telephone battery may be low, or because the party may simply desire a better connection.
In a further example, a party is on a conference call and must leave her office and continue the call in her car. The party does not want to disrupt the other callers on the call by hanging up and redialing into the conference call from her cell phone. Alternatively, a party may be using instant messaging on a computer. The party may wish to continue the conversation but may be forced to discontinue using the computer, perhaps to allow other family members access.
In another example, a branch of a chain store receives a call inquiring whether that store has a certain item in stock. The store employee suspects that a store in a neighboring town may have the item. The employee wishes to transfer the call to the other store, but there is no special private branch exchange (PBX) functionality among branch offices of the store.
In each of the above instances, one could hang up and redial/reconnect on the alternate communications device. That, however, interrupts the conversation that is in progress. Furthermore, redialing the connection is inconvenient, especially if it involves looking up a telephone number. Additionally, a party runs the risk of the person on the other end being diverted to another call or activity while that party redials the connection.
A “call forwarding” function is performed by current telecommunications networks to forward a call to another number. That function, however, is performed on a call before the call is completed; i.e., before the called party answers. The function is invoked by a party that expects incoming calls but does not expect to be able to answer the calls at a called station. The network automatically forwards the calls to a different station that has been specified before the call was initiated. The call forwarding function is not useful in transferring an in-progress call.
Some PBX's permit calls to be transferred from one communications device to another. Switching for that function is done within the PBX. That capability is therefore not available on cellular phones, public land-line phones, and computers, and is not available in the situations described above.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,070,054 to Foladare et al., assigned to the same assignee as the present application, addresses the problem of a mobile individual having multiple communications devices through which the individual may be reached. The individual is assigned a personal telephone number that is used to reach the individual regardless of his or her location. The individual uses a two-way pager to transmit call control parameters that are used by the telephone network to route calls directed to the personal telephone number. The two-way pager is also used to transmit subsequent routing parameters that are used by the network to reroute calls that have been previously routed.
There is therefore a need for a method and apparatus for transferring an in-progress communication from one communications device to another using the PSTN and/or the communications device itself, without disrupting the communication and without redialing and reestablishing the connection.